The Court of Appeal for Ontario has affirmed that it‘s illegal to even hold a cellphone while driving. Good. Queen’s Park needs to get tough on this crime.

Drivers addicted to using cellphones while behind the wheel should be aware they’ve been stripped of two possible defenses if caught by police: No longer can they claim the phone fell and they were just picking it up, or that it was inoperable and therefore exempt from the law.

In other words, it’s not necessary to be caught endangering others by yakking on a device. Just
holding it while behind the wheel
, without calling anyone, has been deemed illegal. And officers can make a $155 fine, or stiffer penalties, stick without showing that a driver’s phone was even capable of communication. A dead battery is no defence.

Ontario’s top court recently drew these distinctions in two welcome rulings that should encourage police to step up enforcement of the law. Far from being draconian, it’s just common sense.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario reversed two lower court judgments that had allowed drivers, under such circumstances, to go unpunished. If allowed to stand those earlier rulings could have severely undercut enforcement of the provincial ban on using hand-held devices while driving. And that ban is too important to be weakened by unnecessary loopholes. It’s no exaggeration to say lives are at stake.

Talking on a cellphone can be a deadly distraction. Researchers have found
more likely to crash
such chatter can make a motorist
four times
more likely to crash. Those foolish enough to text while driving are
23 times
more likely to be in a collision.

Despite such risks a lower court decided, wrongly, to accept an Oshawa woman’s explanation that her cellphone had slid to the floor, and she was only picking it up when an officer saw it in her hand and wrote her a ticket. While the law explicitly forbids “holding or using” such a device, the judge ruled that momentarily having it in-hand didn’t constitute holding it. The driver was acquitted and the Crown, for good reason, appealed.

Allowing such a defense would make it harder for police to catch chatty drivers, since the accused could lie and claim their phone had fallen, especially if they hadn’t yet connected with anyone.

“Road safety is best ensured by a complete prohibition on having a cellphone in one’s hand at all while driving,” the
three-judge appeal court panel
wisely ruled. In a separate and unrelated case,
three-judge appeal court panel
also found there was no good reason to require police to show a driver’s cellphone is operable. Again, just holding it is offense enough.

Anyone devoting even a few minutes to watching Ontario motorists in action can attest to wide neglect of the ban on using hand-held devices while driving. Attitudes need to change and a tough stand by judges and police is key to such transformation. That’s why these Court of Appeal verdicts are so welcome.

Police would do well to intensify enforcement of existing rules and the province should consider further strengthening its laws. Manitoba, just this summer, added demerits to its fines for using a hand-held device while driving. In fact, most provinces now impose demerits for this offence.
But not Ontario
. It considers failing to signal or not wearing a seat belt serious enough to warrant demerits, but not using a cellphone while behind the wheel.

A firmer attitude is necessary. Judges are getting tough. So should Queen’s Park.

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